238 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



and who did not hesitate to lend his aid in furthering this new 

 field for German advancement. The matter had not been long 

 under discussion, when the approval of the Prussian authorities 

 took a practical shape. Plans, prepared upon the ground by a 

 surveyor of the locality intended for a settlement, were laid 

 before the Government of Berlin ; a programme of the course 

 of colonisation to be adopted was drawn up ; extraordinary 

 powers Avere given to the German Consul at Samoa ; grants of 

 arms of precision from the Royal arsenals were made for the 

 protection of the settlement, and the Hertha (the first, it is 

 said, of the continental ironclads of Europe to pass through the 

 Suez Canal) received orders to proceed from China to Samoa, 

 to settle all disputes between the Germans and the chiefs of 

 that group, and by a judicious display of power to prepare the 

 way for the first detachment of military settlers, Avho were to 

 leave Hamburg as soon as her commander should have sub- 

 mitted his report. 



At the same time the Messrs. Godeffroy had completed 

 arrangements with their representative in Valparaiso to ship to 

 Samoa a number of mules and their Chilian drivers, for the 

 purpose of opening a regular communication between the 

 north and south coasts of Upolu, over the great central 

 dividing range. Orders were also given to the manager at 

 Cochin to despatch several Chinese families who had resided 

 for many years at that place in the employment of the 

 Hamburg house, in order to systematically commence upon 

 the Samoan land the cultivation of rice and other Oriental 

 products. 



This was a well-conceived project, but owing to the march of 

 events in Europe it collapsed before it was put into operation. 

 The Hertha was countermanded in the Indian Sea, France 

 having declared war against Germany. Hamburg was ruin- 



